A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is used to uniquely identify a motor vehicle by specifying some of its various attributes, such as its make, model, and sequential number. Depending on the particular format used, a VIN in North America typically consists of seventeen alphanumeric characters (excluding the letters I, O and Q):
three characters for a manufacturer identification, five characters for vehicle attributes, a check digit character, a model year character, a plant code character, and six characters for a sequential number. To assist in the identification of vehicles and to help prevent vehicle theft, VINs are typically affixed to different parts of the vehicle. For instance, it is common to find a small metal plaque, a sticker or an etching that bears the VIN on the dashboard near the point where it meets the front windshield, on the driver side front door, on a rear wheel-well, on the engine, or on some other part of the vehicle. Placing the VIN in these known locations enables, among other things, the authorities to uniquely identify a particular vehicle.
Car thieves have been known to walk through parking lots or other structures and record the VINs of non-stolen vehicles that happen to have the same make, model and year as vehicles that they have already stolen. The thieves will then replace the original plaques, stickers, or etchings on the stolen vehicle with new, authentic-looking ones bearing the newly acquired ‘valid’ VIN. This process is known as ‘VIN cloning’, and it is intended to allow car thieves to pass off a stolen vehicle as non-stolen.